Page 105 of The Blue Viking

“Do it,” she ordered. Hands on hips, her belly sticking out as if she’d swallowed a small boulder, she resembled a pregnant virago … which she was.

“What is it with you and Tykir and your insinuations that I must love Maire?”

“Tykir told you that you are in love?” Her red eyebrows arched in astonishment. Then she smiled widely. “Well, that settles it then. You must be in love.”

“On, nay, that is not what I said… what he said … what it meant. Oh, Good Lord, where are you going now?”

“Eadyth! Rain! Come quickly!” Alinor was shouting as she waddled down the corridor. “I just found out. Rurik is in love. We have a wedding to plan. Tell Cook to whip up a haggis. Tell the men to go shoot a boar. Tell Bolthor to prepare a nuptial saga. Tell that witch, Cailleach, to cast a spell on that bloody bedchamber door and make it melt away.”

Rurik pressed his forehead against the door and pleaded, “Maire, you have to come out. Things are getting really, really bad.”

It was midafternoon, and the pounding started again.

Maire glanced up from the tapestry, which she’d been working at diligently all day, and wondered what outlandish idea Rurik would come up with this time to convince her that she should let him in.

But it wasn’t Rurik this time.

“Maire, let us in, please. It’s Alinor.”

“And Eadyth.”

“And Rain.”

Did she really want to be badgered by more people who thought they knew what was best for her? On the other hand, did she want to offend her guests?

“Come in,” she called out.

The three ladies swept into her bedchamber with eyebrows lifted… no doubt because the door hadn’t been locked.

“I unlocked it this morning when I went to visit the garderobe and filch some food from the scullery.”

Alinor grinned. “You didn’t inform Rurik of that fact?”

“Of course not.”

“Ooooh! I think I am going to like her,” Alinor told the other ladies. “She is going to be soooo good for Rurik.”

Eadyth and Rain nodded, also grinning.

“I must tell you, right off, if you are here to plead Rurik’s case, forget it.”

“Would we do that?” The three put palms to their chests to indicate their innocence. “The dolt does not deserve you,” their spokesperson, Alinor, said.

Well, that was correct. Rurik didn’t deserve her, but she wasn’t sure she liked Alinor stating that fact… or calling him a dolt. “I want naught to do with the man.”

“I can understand that,” Eadyth said. “How could he be so insensitive?”

“Or cruel?” Rain added.

“Or thickheaded?” Alinor further added.

The ladies circled behind her to examine her tapestry.

“Oh, Maire, it is exquisite!” Rain declared and touched the cloth lovingly.

“I wish I had such a skill with needles,” Eadyth agreed on a sigh. “Alas, my talents lie more with bees … not so fine or feminine a talent.”

Maire started to protest because she had heard of the marvelous honey and mead Eadyth produced and sold, not to mention her unusual timekeeping candles, but before the words could leave her tongue, Rain was speaking. “I am a good doctor… there is no denying that… but so much of my life is involved with sadness and death. I have always wished I could create beauty.” She inhaled and exhaled loudly with regret, then asked, “Is that you and Jamie and Rurik? What a lovely family you will make!”